1. Field of the Invention
The lining of chambers, adapted to comprise the finishing chamber of a finishing machine or the like, the removal, replacement, or repair of such linings, finishing chambers lined therewith, and finishing machines embodying such lined finishing chambers, constitutes the field of this invention.
2. Prior Art
The art is replete with so-called finishing machines of various types, especially vibratory of gyratory types, with or without additional rotative action, or with rotative and/or centrifugal action alone, and of course tumbling barrels are a type of finishing machine which has been known for years. As the art has progressed, the finishing chambers employed have been lined with an elastomeric material of either natural or synthetic nature for prevention of damage to parts or workpieces being finished, due to impingement thereof upon the inner surface of the finishing chamber during the process of finishing therein, and for prevention of excessive wear of the interior surface of the chamber itself. Such finishing has generally been conducted in the finishing chamber of such finishing machines employing a suitable loose abrasive media and parts or workpieces to be finished, usually together with a liquid such as water, and frequently together with agents such as detergents, brightening agents, or lubricating agents of a soapy nature, generally referred to as "compounds". In the finishing chambers of such devices, the parts or workpieces to be finished are subjected to relative movement with respect to the loose finishing media, which may be anything from rock fragments to ceramic "chips" to steel burnishing balls, and the vibratory and/or rotative action imparted to the finishing chamber when in place in such finishing machines produces such relative motion. In vibrational or gyrational apparatus, such relative motion is considered to be both of a micro and a macro nature, inasmuch as the parts to be finished and the loose media move back and forth with respect to each other in a relatively localized area to an extremely localized extent in addition to moving with a generally rolling motion. In both tub-type and curvilinear finishing machines, generally having an arcuate bottom, the entire mass of loose finishing media and parts or workpieces generally moves with a rolling motion, going down at the one side (inside) of the finishing chamber and coming up at the other side (outside) of the finishing chamber, such motion generally being referred to as the "roll". In addition, in curvilinear finishing machines, e.g., the gyratory type of a machine having a curvilinear finishing chamber, usually an annular bowl having a U-shaped cross-section, with or without a step in the bottom, an additional component known as "feed" or "precession" is also introduced. According to the skill of the art, this is generally controlled by the relative settings of eccentric weights carried by a shaft or located on opposite ends of the shaft of an eccentric motor. Sometimes, in linear tub-type vibratory finishing machines, such precession is also provided by employing a slope in the bottom of the finishing chamber.
As the art has progressed, the elastomeric finishing chamber linings have become more and more sophisticated as might be expected. Moreover, as the elastomeric finishing chamber linings have become more sophisticated, they have also become more expensive. Therefore, it is sometimes economically desirable to patch them when localized areas show excessive wear. Further, due to the constantly increasing cost of finishing machines, including finishing chambers, it is not economically feasible to dispose of an entire finishing chamber simply because the lining is in need of repair or replacement. Thus, it has become standard practice in the art to remove finishing chamber linings when obsolete or otherwise in need of replacement and to replace them with new linings of the same or different type of elastomer, as required or desired, when repair is no longer feasible. However, adherence of the elastomeric lining to the usual metal, e.g., mild or stainless steel, finishing chamber is tenacious, and this adhesion is not readily broken. Consequently, removal of finishing chamber linings has been fraught with great difficulty. Efforts have been made to solve the problem conveniently by burning, heating in ovens, or exposure to solvents, including heated solvents, over extended periods. However, such practices have not been accepted by regulatory authorities and present numerous unacceptable health hazards as well as unacceptable in-plant fire, explosion, and safety hazards in general. Moreover, to the extent that such practices have been successful, they have often been self-defeating inasmuch as the temperature necessary to attain the desired deterioration or disintegration of the finishing chamber lining, for facilitating its removal from the chamber proper, have frequently resulted in weakening the chamber itself or warping of the same along with other structural failures, including in some cases even melting and/or puncturing thereof, with the ultimate result that the entire finishing chamber requires replacement rather than only the lining thereof. An additional disadvantage of prior art procedure is that, whatever the procedure followed, it has been difficult if not impossible to remove the finishing chamber lining in an integral or unitary form, with the result that the piecewise or portionwise removal of the lining, and the necessary scratching and scraping essential to attain the same, is excessively time consuming, laborious, and uneconomic, especially since it generally requires a great deal of hand labor.
In view of such obvious shortcomings and disadvantages, it is apparent that a solution to this now long-standing and economically important problem is both highly desirable and overdue. Such a solution is provided according to the present invention. It goes without saying that such solution as is provided according to the present invention is applicable not only to finishing chambers but also to similar or related chambers such as are employed for mixing or sieving operations in existing mixing or sieving devices as well as similar chambers of related machines in which an interior elastomeric lining is employed.